Since mid-February, JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) has been in a state of meltdown, according to Julie Johnsson of The Chicago Tribune. JetBlue had to cancel over 1,000 flights and it took days to recover from that mess. Once the airline's home base at JFK Airport in New York City closed due to an ice storm, JetBlue had neither the planes nor the personnel to construct a work-around solution. JetBlue then compounded the problem by not canceling additional flights soon enough or by leaving airplanes stranded on taxiways for hours before eventually canceling the flights. Such widespread negative publicity sounds like a recipe for corporate disaster. To counteract the negative publicity, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman issued an apology to the traveling public and released JetBlue's new Customer Bill of Rights. It is difficult to tell who is more gullible, CEO Neeleman who thinks that a marketing ploy will undo horrendous negative publicity caused by systematic corporate malfunctioning or investors who have bid the stock up in recent days. JetBlue stock closed at $11.82 on Tuesday, 6 March, up 2%.
JetBlue's Customer Bill of Rights is merely boilerplate blather that presents passengers' legal rights as though JetBlue were doing them a favor. If the flight is delayed by 1-2 hours, the customer gets a voucher for $25. That may be enough to buy lunch at the airport. For delays 2-4 hours, the voucher increases to $50. But please bear in mind that these delays must be due to a "controllable irregularity," such term being nowhere spelled out in the Bill of Rights. If the plane has landed but cannot get to a gate to unload after 3 hours, the customer gets a free round trip ticket on the same airline that couldn't get the job done in the first place.
CEO Neeleman is very proud of the guarantee that if a JetBlue flight has been stranded on the taxiway for more than 5 hours, JetBlue promises to return to the terminal where customers can deplane and begin the process all over again. In such case, passengers may want to keep the number for Amtrak handy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-07-2007 @ 3:30PM
A. H. said...
I honestly feel that this is an unfair blog. Unlime most other airlines, JetBlue actually compensates people for dealys, and it makes it very clear about what that compensation will be. Hardly any other airline would be so open about such policies. Furthermore, straight from the CEO himself, the term "controllable irregularity" will be defined in weeks to come. In today's corporate America, any company that openly comes out and apologizes for a mistake is not "lame".
3-07-2007 @ 4:00PM
Carolyn said...
JetBlue is a great airline - they have been crucified for doing something other airlines are guilty of, but no one is mentioning them. This blog is biased garbage - mjust makes me wonder who the poster works for. United? Continental? Some other airline suffering because customers can pay a fraction of the price and get superior customer service? think about it.
3-07-2007 @ 4:42PM
Chris said...
I agree also that everyone is jumping on the band wagon to beat up on JetBlue. I have been flying Jet Blue at least once a month for the past two years and the first delay that I had was during the Valentines storm. Apparently no one is mentioning that "Most Airlines" flying out of JFK that day had numerous delays and cancellations. Its funny how United didn't get hammered like this during Xmas this year when they left people on the runway and stranded at Denver for days on end. Unfortunately it happens. I was on a Jet Blue flight that had an indicator warning light come on and they taxied to the gate to get it fixed. The funniest thing were the idiots that complained about getting it looked at. It turns out it was faulty light and we actually made up our lost time in flight...Of course the people complaining would of been really upset if something had happened if we hadn't turned around. It is amazing to me that when a company is doing a great job and doing what they say...it seems people just want to see them fail. If you want to try someone new go ahead and jump on a NorthWest or Delta flight cross Country in one of there old cattle car planes. Every company at some point has a hurdle to jump. Jet Blue will make it through this to become a stronger airline with even better service. And in answer to your slam of the $25.00 voucher, try getting that from any other airline. JetBlue actually credited my cancelled flight and paid for the actual one I was on. Good luck with that kind of service from anyone else.
4-25-2007 @ 4:17PM
RandomThoughts said...
Things quieted down for them until last night. I saw a news segment of a area family that had flown to Florida and JetBlue had lost a piece of luggage. The luggage happened to contain the families’ baby medicine. The woman went to JetBlue’s luggage counter and after probably a nasty confrontation with the JetBlue employee, the woman demanded to speak to a supervisor. The employee made a call, but to security. 3 Florida Sheriffs showed up, as the woman was quoted as saying “one had his hand on his gun.”
http://moonsview.blogspot.com/2007/04/jet-blue-getting-better.html